(Note: This was written by my daughter, who is in 7th Grade. Except for the header picture and where noted, all pictures were taken by her.)

I am not a car fanatic; I am one who much prefers music and dancing. However, I wanted to present this article to refresh memories of what most car designers seem reluctant to remember–the back seat.

Most car designers only seem interested in the engine, what type of seats are used, is it turbocharged and, oh yeah, the back seat. The backseat often seems to be forgotten during the design process, as any child likely knows.

There often seems to be a higher amount of focus on the front half of the vehicle. This is fine, but the backseat is a very important area also. I have spent large quantities of time there wondering why so few vehicles have a third passenger seat up front.

For me, there are three primary things I look for in cars: Plenty of legroom; is the back seat comfortable; and, does it have a good sound system. Sadly, the first two requirements seem tricky to come by.

Here is a compilation of reviews of different cars.

2013 Ford Fusion

I likely would never have ridden in a Ford Fusion if it weren’t for having to go car shopping with my parents –not my idea of a fun day.

The seat itself was okay, and definitely better than the 1993 Buick Century I used to ride in. The shape was better but the cushion was much firmer. As far as legroom, it was about the same, maybe a bit better.

We only test drove this briefly so it’s hard to compare it to other cars I’ve spent more time in.

2014 Ford Escape

This is another vehicle my parents test drove. Room wise, it was like the roller coasters in the kiddie section of an amusement park – that’s not good when you have long legs (and I’m currently 5’6” tall). Comfort wise it was gag-a-phyingly bad.

The seats were about as soft as a rock, and the shape was very flat without any curves to keep you from sliding around. It reminded me of a concrete park bench. Whoever designed the back seat was rather unenthusiastic about their assignment.

This is how I feel about the back seat of a Ford Escape.

Photo by JS

2007 Ford F-150 Super Crew

Legroom is okay. Comfort wise it is also okay. The center seat has the seat belt coil very near my head when sitting on the left side and I find it rather intrusive. A head rest for the middle passenger seat in the rear would make the seat belt coil less spiteful.

I really have no clue on the sound system as I’m not allowed to have very much volume (except if it’s Willie Nelson–gag!).

Photo by JS

2000 Ford E-150 conversion van

Considering it is a conversion van with two rows of rear seats, I will start with the middle row. There are not many seats where I can stick my legs all the way out in front of me without brushing anything.

It’s as refreshing as a cucumber salad with pieces of fresh watermelon and a root beer on a warm summer day.

Photo by JS

Comfort wise it is like somebody stuck a recliner in it where a person can even recline it. That is one feature my parents love.

The back seat is not quite as comfortable, but is surprisingly cushy for not having very much shape. The legroom back here is not quite as good as the middle row, but it is comparable to that of our next car.

I must say that if somebody turns on the interior lights, it is lit like the inside of a limousine.

Photo by JS

1963 Ford Galaxie

The back seat cushions in this car are unbelievable, especially considering the age of these seats.

There is something so satisfying about the muffled squeak of the seat springs when I sit down. The satisfaction is likely from knowing I am sitting on a thick cushion versus what often seems to be a plastic seat with a quarter-inch thick layer of padding over it (I shall not name names but you might get an idea from what I’ve already mentioned).

There is a lot of freedom riding in a car that has no rear seat belts – ah, room to stretch. It’s pretty novel for me to ride in a car without the (three-point) seat belt rubbing against my neck. Those were the days when the back seat was just as important as the front; what happened?

2014 Volkswagen Jetta

The first two requirements were met pretty well considering the overall size of the Jetta. It’s one of the few newer cars I have ridden in where the backseat was given more attention than other cars (Ford, listen to my advice and then apply it to your Escape).

The back seat is comfortable and done quite nicely for the size of the car, but the middle of the rear seat could use some help. I would either need to straddle the hump or sit with my legs up quite high. That area is wider than in these other cars. One could easily place a tissue box on top of the hump (with room to spare) it is so wide. The seat cushion had a slight mound in the middle, which would make sitting there for very long rather uncomfortable.

Legroom is quite nice for a small car. As you can see, I have plenty of room to stretch my legs; it almost seems geometrically impossible to get so much room in such a small car.

2014 Volkswagen Passat

The backseat is a lot like the Jetta but with even more legroom. I’ve had a few decent tests of the sound system at my own will, but the one sound testing when the volume was at maximum is when Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson were singing. I was begging to have that turned off, to no avail whatsoever.

Returning to the back seat, the Passat is like the Jetta with an extra 3.75” of legroom. On long trips, such as our trip to Chicago in January, the back seat does get quite firm after about 90 minutes to two hours.

Overall, this back seat is pretty darn good, the best of the new cars I’ve ridden in.

There are a few cars I would like to ride in to try out the back seat just for the fun of it. Anybody who likes to watch classic television shows should recognize this one. For those who don’t, it is the car from the Beverly Hillbillies television show (It’s a 1921 Oldsmobile – JS).

I sat in this very car where it’s displayed in Branson, Missouri, but I was too young to really remember much about it. I’m hoping to sit in it again. I’d also like to try a limousine. Those have very big back seats.

This is really fantastic!!! I’m an attorney, and I’ve got to say, your daughter has a better vocabulary than some of my coworkers.

It makes me feel old reading this, I can clearly remember my whole world revolving around the backseat. My pet peeve used to be rear windows with dividers (to allow the window to roll all the way down) like in my mom’s Accord. We were never allowed to roll windows down, so I lived in envy of kids in backseats with unobstructed views.

I want more of these articles, with kids perspective on car stuff. If only for what is “cool” nowadays, my 9 year old niece occasionally surprised me with the most random likes/dislikes about cars.

You could have had what I had in the family Malibu – unobstructed windows that didn’t roll down! I was in the same boat as you, though; I wouldn’t have been allowed to roll the windows down even if they’d been there. With my mother, the A/C was pressed into service at the slightest hint of warmth, and the windows were *not* to be rolled down.

That Imperial limo is gorgeous–definitely my choice if I were a dictator of an American client state.

My experience with the Escape’s back seat was similar to your daughters. The firmness was no issue, but the flatness, contouring and seat height left much to be desired. They were thin things, surprisingly close to the floor and in other cars which share that issue (say, an old 4Runner), the contouring was at least a bit more hospitable. This is a seat designed to fit three abreast and fold easily while being cheap to build; comfort was a tertiary consideration. My dad’s ’07 RAV4, for all its blatant cheapness, at least had a very nice third row in comparison.

The ’02 Golf I had had one of the best back seats, despite the lack of space. I’m neither tall nor broad, so that wasn’t a problem, and the bench was sculpted for two, upright and high off the floor, with substantial and perfectly sited headrests. It even had height adjustable seatbelt anchors and individual map lights. The sills were low, relative to the seat height, also, so visibility was good. At the same time, the wide C pillars imparted a sense of privacy.

Oddly enough, my mother’s ’13 GTI, despite its abundance extra space in comparison, is much less pleasant, with a much thinner, lower, flatter cushion, along with higher sills. It’s more efficient, yes, but comfort is definitely less impressive.

Really great read, with a well-thought out and developed premise! I literally laughed out loud on the train then I got to the part about the Ford Escape interior engineer’s supposed lack of enthusiasm for the job.

I have often admired the design of the Chevy Cruze at the Detroit show, but young Ms Shafer should be glad she wasn’t stuffed in the back of a Cruze, which, believe it or not, is about the same size as a Jetta.

Her observations remind me of all the years I spent crammed into the back seat of my parents’ ’74 Monte Carlo as a lanky teenager. We all loved that car, but I always found it both baffling and supremely irksome that Detroit engineers could design such huge cars with such mediocre interior accomodations.

As a kid I had plenty of seat time in both my parents’ Monte and my gramps’ ’63 Nova. The Nova was far more roomy and airy.

My grandmother stood 4′ 10 1/2″. She got stuck in the back of my 67 Thunderbird once. She had gotten her legs crossed, but couldn’t figure out how she did it, or how to uncross them, because there was so little room back there. Had to pull the front passenger seat forward, then flip the backrest forward, to get her out of there.

One very nice write-up, thank you young lady.
The most comfortable rear seat that one can endure for hours without pain and see out was in my ’04 SAAB 9-5 Aero. Considering the car’s dimensions it was a true packaging magic, so often displayed in older SAABs.

The review somehow did not touch upon some other recent trends that I find annoying. First is headroom in the back of the passenger cars. Even with my rather average 5-11 frame I brush (or nearly so) against headlining in most recent offerings, even full-sizers like the Impala.
The second is those tiny windows that prevent you from seeing out well when fully reclined and create very uncomfortable claustrophobic atmosphere in the back row.

1. While only seating for two, the seats are well cushioned, the seat backs can be tilted individually, all the way down to flat.
2. They are elevated, so better view.
3. Leg room, so much of it, my bud is 6’4″ with long legs. He almost found heaven right there.

This was a thoroughly refreshing read! In the world of us car enthusiasts, the talk is often focuses on performance and styling, and not something as fundamentally basic as rear seat comfort. As someone who less than 10 years ago was primarily a rear seat passenger, I can relate to just about everything your daughter says. If you’re not going to be driving the car, horsepower, steering feel, and fuel economy don’t matter – it’s all about how enjoyable the riding experience is.

I was actually right about 7th grade when Chrysler released Stow-‘N-Go. I remember I couldn’t get over how much it seemed to neglect rear-seat passenger (usually kids in a minivan) comfort. Replacing normal rear seats for thin, narrow, and low uncomfortable seats all so they could fold flat?

I must add that this is a very well written piece, especially considering it was written by a 7th grader. Kudos to your daughter on a well-written article. It’s a good skill to have.

As refreshing as a crystal clear waterfall falling gently over the grizzled rocks of classic car knowledge.

More seriously, this is a very well thought out piece. I recently read an article that pointed to people reviewing toys on youtube garnering massive subscription and viewership numbers. There is definitely the opportunity for someone as capable as yourself, Ms Shafer, to establish an ongoing series of reviews along this line. A most worthy addition to the CC canon.

Your article reminds me of my experiences in the mid-1970’s when my father wanted to find a small car with enough legroom for me and my older brothers. He was 6′ 2″ so he always had to adjust the driver’s seat to its rearmost position.

We sat in Corollas, Coronas, a VW Dasher, and those dreadfully claustrophobic Subies. He almost pulled the trigger on an Audi Fox (silver fox edition, to boot), but changed his mind at the last minute. The then-new Honda Accord, which had tolerable rear legroom, caught his interest, but they were going well above sticker price at the time.

The unanticipated, but nonetheless fortuitous, demise of my dad’s DD, a 69 Fiat 124 Spyder, forced his hand as our Blazer was in the shop at the time. After declaring our rental Corolla “too noisy” he popped in and bought a new 1977 Honda Civic, with a 5-speed and snazzy houndstooth seat inserts. That summer, my parents, older brother and I took the Honda on a road trip from New Mexico to Michigan to visit grandparents. The less-than-generous rear legroom definitely helped make the trip something to remember, but not from a positive perspective. We also got our share of fierce stares from Dearbornites who didn’t appreciate the little red, gasp!, import in their midst.

The Civic was fun to drive, easy to park, and got great mileage. As an early CVCC, however, it suffered from repeated head gasket failures. After head gasket number 3, within the first 3 years we owned it, it got the boot. It was replaced with a 1980 Volvo 244, which had decent rear legroom and that legendary Swedish Brick toughness. The next trip to Michigan was much less uncomfortable, needless to say.

I will say that the current Escape sucks for two other reasons. There is no dang door lock plunger for the rear doors so it is like a police car. The driver has to put the Transmission in Park before the doors will open. I do not care that it is supposed to be an extra level of security for kids in the back seat I like being able to unlock the rear doors.

This is some good writing right here. I remember my folks not liking a used QX4 they test drove because of the high rear floor and the lack of second row foot room. The 05 Sedona they ended up buying was not bought until they made sure I had enough comfortable space in the back. The 3rd row is near impossible to sit in though, the ceiling is not high enough.

I entirely agree that back seats are not given enough attention, especially in new sedans. As you’ve learned, carmakers in 1963 had the right idea. My kids tell me 1973 was also a good year for passengers.

I’ve found (when my son calls shotgun first) that Mrs. Capn’s ’06 Ford Fusion is actually quite nice in the back, even for an excess-height cargo like myself. But when I went to a car show last year, I found that the current Fusion no longer has enough headroom for me, or my kids, or you in a few years.

My theory is that the makers want to push us into buying a more expensive SUV to get decent backseat room. This is called “the upsell,” and it’s a marketing tactic you’ll become more familiar with as a teenager, unfortunately.

Anyway, you have a keen eye and a way with words, and you deserve both a bigger backseat and command of the radio! You can tell the old man I said so.

It’s interesting you mention command of the radio. After conclusion of our 2 hour, 40 minute jaunt just now, a certain 5’6″ brunette had her MP3 player hooked in and in her rear-seat based hand. All I controlled was the volume.

And the rear seat space of the Passat is a major factor on why we bought it. With the front seat adjusted for 5’11” me, I can stretch my 32″ inseam all the way out when in the back. This dad is too much of a tightwad to buy an SUV – especially when a crew cab pickup is much more practical for us.

So far so good as the Passat is at almost 8,000 miles on the odometer. The first oil change is due at 10,000 and I’m toying with an update at that time. It will be a short article as a flat tire will be about the worst thing to report.

Well written! The worst backseat I ever encountered as a kid, outside the many 2+2 coupes around in the ’80s, was a friend’s mom’s GM A/G-body wagon. Slippery vinyl, complete squishiness, backrest angled too far back, and those infamous non-opening rear windows.

Try riding in the back seat of a Gremlin for 500 miles or a 78 Subaru at 5’8′ with long legs.

Just don’t try the Focus or Fiesta. You’ll never get back out.

All good points. An irritating lack of usable real leg room in modern cars. Why pay all that money for what turns out to be essentially a two seat car. And you can skip the stupid 18″w x 24″ tall console while you’re at it, modern car builders

it is all about meeting the experience of the one spending the money. …and this is wrong. in a car, it is the front passengers. But i always ride in back for at least some of the test ride. Can agree that many rear seats just suck, but not as badly as in the 70s. Duster, vega, pinto Ugggh. High water mark for us in family haulers was a 99 dodge grand caravan with the middle row captains chairs. centered between the axles, the ride in middle row was great. inop windows, tho. access was good. ventilation was good. seats could be individually adjusted and were great for adult passengers as well as kids. even the 3rd row was a decent place for an adult to lie down. I also had a 63 galaxie (pre-kids) and the rear seat legroom was vast. so much so that you felt the separation in conversations from the front row. in my hardtop, the spectacular window mechanism allowed those giant rear windows to fully drop into the doors. and for audio, i added a pair of infinity speakers in the rear deck with a hidden stereo head up front. look at houses. who gets the biggest bedroom? parents/owners. who get the little ones? kids. now, who spends large amounts of time in their bedrooms? not usually parents. and if they do, it is not for activities that dont involve being in bed. wrong way to design. the homeowner should have a big closets, but the surplus available sq footage should be for larger kids rooms. excellent review. remember to ride in back of your next purchase.

Thank you Ms. Shafer for this inside look at rear seats, a subject that is sorely neglected for the most part. Being 6’4″ makes me rather sensitive to the issue, as I do like to ride in the back seat once in a while.

My Scion xB has one of the best back seats of the modern era, especially for such a compact car. Even with the front seat all the way back, my knees have a healthy air gap between them and the front seat back. It’s a little limo back there.

I reminds me of the tall and boxy cars in the 40s and early 50s, which had the best back seats ever, with tall sofas and scads of leg room. It doesn’t feel like a car at all riding in one of them back there.

Very nice article! Be glad you don’t have to share it with TWO others! It adds a whole ‘nother dimension – elbow room…and suddenly vaults rear seat room as a priority for the actual shopper who presumably will never sit back there themselves.

I’m also glad to see that you over the last few months you seem to have firmly achieved and retained “daughter” status. No more “spawn” label for you!

We used to refer to our daughter as Hector before she was born, back in the day when it was a real hassle to determine the sex of the unborn child (1978). So it seemed natural for Hector to become her code word in elementary school.

Now at the same age her mother was when she was born, the daughter’s pregnant. Cycles….

A very well written and informative piece. I never consider the back seats of my cars because I never ride back there. As a matter of fact, I’m sure that no one has ever been in the back seat of my Mustang, a car that I’ve owned for over four years. My wife’s driver is a Highlander and I doubt that anyone has ridden in the back seat of that vehicle more than 10 times and we have owned this one for six years. As you may have gathered we do have children. I don’t really have much back seat time (other than when I was young and was crammed into the back of a 1960 Ford with my siblings), but out of the few I’ve spent much time in, the best was probably a Chevy Suburban. Six of us took a road trip in one and all of us had plenty of room to stretch out.

1.) The roomiest production car rear seat I’ve ever seen was in the 1958-1960 Lincolns. Never rode in one, yet the shoulder, hip and leg room appeared phenomenal, almost too large.

2.) The older cars mentioned, the 1963 Galaxie and the Imperial were designed by a generation of adults who enjoyed more than one offspring. Today, we are seeing the return of large vehicles to accommodate today’s larger families. Additionally, Boomers are rediscovering a need to have a vehicle that allows for their own personal rear seat comfort, since many are no longer drivers. We just might be seeing a return to rear seat comfort as a valuable part of auto designs!

3.) Your post is a valuable part of this website. Thank you for your perspective!

Well done! A most important yet ignored topic. Your impressions of the Galaxie’s back seat take me back to kidhood when most cars were like that. Wide, soft and bright. Then as the 60s became the 70s, seat backs got higher, windows got smaller and everything got dark and claustrophobic.

We had a big Ford van, and I agree that those two middle row captain’s chairs were the best backseats in autodom. Your cranky father will fall in love with that van when you start driving and mom beats him in calling shotgun.

Mrs. Jason chastises me every time I refer to that van with a swine, scatological, or canine motherhood reference. Then my daughter joins in. Is it any wonder it only had 750 miles put on it in the last 12 months?

Good job on an article from the passenger view point. Writing talent must run in the family. I never worried too much about back seat comfort until 4 of us had to make an emergency trip from of 2000 miles round trip. Agree that VW seems to have more consideration for the back seat riders then a lot of makes. We traded off driving on the trip, so I rode in the back seat for a few hours and I was quite comfortable in the back of the 86 Jetta. Thickly padded seat, fold down armrest with cup holders, (though none in front), and good legroom and headroom without having to compromise seat adjustment in the front. And a huge trunk for a compact car. I think the roomiest back seat was in our ’57 Old’s 88 super. But when we were kids we would ride in the back of the 65 Chevy wagon with no seat at all. Nice article, and I agree on the CW music. (Sorry Jason).

OK, I like “On The Road Again” and some Johnny Cash. My old landlord used to say there are only 2 kinds of music “country” and “western”. I have a Titan king cab, it can seat 6 in a pinch (the fold up center armrest and old style manual adjust lapbelt and no headrest position is not the best, I assume the airbags are deigned to protect the center passenger, but since it’s kid sized probably best to not use it). And you do need to put the shorter people in the back and pull the seat forward some. Works for me since no kids to road trip with, but for short trips it works fine. And I do haul stuff round often enough to need a truck.

+1. Big Willie Nelson fan here. One of America’s great interpretive voices – listen to his version of ‘Blue Skies’ for confirmation. Of course, his C&W stuff rules including his AMAZING Kristofferson album. For anyone dithering over Waylon, find the 1976 ‘Waylon Live’ album and drop the needle on side 2. ‘Pick up the tempo just a little, and bring it on home.’

Well written, and a nice insight in a world we tend to forget…..
Me and my sister were hauled around in VW Vans my dad bought for his business, in the weekends a loose bench was put in the back, and there we went. No belts, no nothing, just that loose bench…..most of the time we were standing anyway, but it is a miracle we kids who grew up in tne 60’s/70’s survived to be a adult…..

When I was in the Air Force, back in the seventies, one of my buddies had a Ford Econoline van, the one with just the two seats up front. A previous owner had partially customized the thing and had installed a bench seat that ran down the driver’s side and then across the back. It was narrow and uncomfortable and no one really wanted to ride sitting there, especially facing sideways. We would throw beanbags and lawn chairs in the back and just go. I think our record was 12 people aboard for a trip to a concert in Oakland one time. We were, at least in theory, adults and should have known better but that never stopped us.

A very well written article from the voice of the younger generation–I applaud your efforts!

Thankfully, as a child I wasn’t subjected to too many bad back seats. I was an only child so we never had a van, but most of our family cars were of the medium to large variety. There was the ’79 Malibu – the fixed rear glass would have been an annoyance except that the A/C was used near-constantly so the windows didn’t need to open. The Audi 5000 had scads of legroom thanks to the long wheelbase, though the cushions were a little stiff. Thick, but firm. The ’86 Parisienne was like your living room couch, right down to the tufted velour. And then a series of Panthers, both in the parents’ fleet and in my own. For such a big car the leg room can be a little tight, but the cushioning is nice, the seatback angle is good, and I generally had very few complaints.

The worst I can remember as a kid would have to be a Renault Alliance that my Dad ended up with as a rental car once. I thought that there was no room in the back seat, and I was all of maybe 8 years old! Thankfully he only had it for a business trip so I only sat in it to see what it was like, and was not subjected to that cramped space for any appreciable length of time.

In the pre-mandatory seatbelt law years, we had a 1963 Cadillac. My youngest sister sat in the middle front seat on family trips. To converse with her siblings in the back seat, she would turn around and place her chin on the leather top of the front bench seat. Over the years we had that car, that spot on the seatback became softer, more supple. It didn’t LOOK any different but it sure did soften up, luxuriously!

Haven’t commented in a while but felt I must add to the kudos already earned by this excellent piece. Not only was it well written, but the clever concept of reviewing back seats was an original one, and it was done in an engaging and humorous way without the disrespectful snarkiness so often seen these days in The Young ;-). Can’t say that I agree however with the callous dismissal of Willie and Waylon (Saints in the subiedoo Musical Pantheon, though not quite as hallowed as the Greatful Dead)! Home schooling well done is an amazing gift for both the student and the parent/educator, as this piece reflects so well. Thank you to the Shafer family for sharing it with the rest of us.